Cafe Office

I am a little over a week before my move from New York, and the reality of the situation is starting to sink in. At the beginning of June (due to circumstances that were so completely New York and beyond my control) we left our apartment in the East Village to move into a sublet for our last month in the city. It is much smaller than we are used to, and doesn’t have things like desks and chairs, so we have spent a good bit of time trying to figure out how to spend time elsewhere. To that end, I left this afternoon and am spending the day at an Cafe Office in the East Village. Me and a bunch of other home (homeless?) workers share the scarce power plugs, drink coffee, and generally ignore each other.

I wrapped up my stint as a corporate staff photographer on Friday with relatively little fanfare, and after some celebrating over the weekend I woke up Monday as a self employed artist with a long todo list and without a regular paycheck. It’s all very exciting in theory but now that it is actually upon me, it’s a little intimidating. I have a lot to learn and a lot of work to do.

The biggest issue is that I can’t do a whole lot until I get my office set up in our new place, which isn’t going to happen until July 1. Not having a permanent desk is a bitch. So until then I am trying to be as productive as possible and try to get as much administrative work done as possible. Lesson one: don’t have wine with lunch just because you can. It will make you want to sleep in the part for a few hours. Lesson two: choose a cafe office that doesn’t have pretty girls walking by every five minutes to distract you. Lesson Three: Lesson Two can’t be done in NYC.

As I type this the guy across from me has a sticker on his laptop that says “Never Not Working”. This is something that I need to start thinking about. I’m so used to getting up, going to work, hating it, and then coming home and spending all my free time trying to forget about it. Now, when I wake up I want to work work work, but on days like today there isn’t a whole lot I need to do. But I desperately want to make sure that I’m doing something, not just sitting around. I’ve been plowing through my todo list, including errands for Dr. Fiance, and I’m trying to go for a run every day.

Interestingly though, I’m not feeling the drive to shoot. I think this is because my mind has already gone to the new city and I’m fully consumed with the move, the new apartment, buying an apartment, and all the other changes that are going on at the moment.

But I am getting things going, starting with marketing plans, website updates, and I’m chasing down old clients and new clients. I am open for business and ready to roll. 7 days until the move.

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4 comments

welcome to my world! it’s a scary place, unless you’re at the cafe . . . then it’s just a distracting place. why must nyc women be so damn attractive every single day?? it’s a blessing and a curse.

the “bad thing” about being self-employed is that on most days there really is only so much work you can do, which leaves a lot of empty time to fill. luckily, there’s a lot of porn on the internet! hahaha! no seriously, it’s a common issue. you’ll find you’re ready to work but the rest of the business world doesn’t move as fast as you. if you can find side projects that interest and challenge you you’ll find them to be a valuable use of your time. maybe it’s shooting the same subject every day in a different way, documenting a neighborhood’s graffiti, whatever. i wish you luck! we all need it!